The Power by Naomi Alderman

Imagine the reversal of expectations of Blonde Roots meets the format of The Handmaid’s Tale meets the sci-fi dystopia of The Fireman meets elements of the spirituality of The Parable of the Sower. In The Power women suddenly develop electrifying new abilities and patriarchal structures begin to topple as social, political, and religious are redefined. What if God was Mother? What does it mean to be a woman? Would the world be a better place if women ran the place? How do the oppressed become the oppressor? These are just some of the questions explored by this novel. 

The Good:

• The book presents an original concept that draws the reader in. 
• It’s easy to become wrapped up in the world of the novel. Both the narrative and the meta narrative created by the structure of a book within a book are fascinating. 
• The characters are compelling. I especially enjoyed reading Allie’s chapters and considering the ideas posed by Alderman about the nature of faith and prophecy.
• Alderman did an EXCELLENT job narrating her own audiobook. She’s right up there with Neil Gaiman and a select group of other authors who can read their own books with all the skill of trained actors. 

The Less Good

• As fascinating of a concept as this book was, for all its 382 pages it ultimately didn’t dive deeply enough into the questions it posed for my liking. 
• The ending was...somewhat disappointing. Without getting into spoilers...while sometimes the suggestion or promise of something can be more impactful than the thing itself, other times it’s more effective to show than to tell. I think Alderman might have pulled the curtain down just a bit too soon on the book within a book (while possibly taking to long to get to the end). And perhaps a bit too late on the meta story. 
• The concluding section, reminiscent of Atwood’s final pages of The Handmaid’s Tale, seemed a bit on the nose and perhaps long. I enjoyed it, but less might have been more here.  

Overall I enjoyed this book. The plot was interesting and it was easy to become invested in the characters. Although there were some loose threads that were not fully explored, I think this is a great contribution to the field of dystopian fiction and a great exploration of gender in science fiction.